WEBVTT THEMEDICAL EXAMINER SAYS EVERYONECOULDHAVE BEEN PREVENTED,INCLUDING THIS 2-YEAR-OLD LASTNIGHT.WHEN EMTS ARRIVED AT THISNORTHSIDE HOME TO HELP ATWO-YEAR-OLD WHO'D STOPPEDBREATHING, THEY FOUND THE SIXTHCHILD VICTIM OF OPIOID OVERDOSEIN 16 MONTHS.NO ONE ANSWERED AT THE HOME THISAFTERNOON.TONIGHT THE BOY'S MOM IS IN JAIL, HER SON AT THE MORGUE WHERESTAFF ARE SOUNDING AN ALARM.>> PROTECT THE MEDICATIONS INYOUR HOME AS IF THEY ARE ALLLETHAL WEAPONS.>> ANNOUNCER: NOW ON WISN 12NEWS.. IN THE LAST DECADE, THE M.E.'SOFFICE SAYS JUST ONE CHILD DIEDPLAYING WITH A GUN NOW A HALFDOZEN CHILDREN ARE DEAD AFTERGETTING THEIR HANDS ONPRESCRIPTION DRUGS.>> THEY ARE JUST AS LETHAL.THEY ARE JUST AS DANGEROUS.IT IS TRAGIC.>> SO THIS IS A MUCH BIGGERRISK?>> MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM.>> SARA SCHREIBER RUNS THE ME'STOXICOLOGY LAB WHICH TESTS, PATIENT FLUIDS TO IDENTIFYDRUGS AND QUANTITIES TAKEN SHE.SHE SAYS EVEN A SINGLE PILL CANBE DEADLY TO A CHILD.WHEN A CHILD CONSUMES A DRUG,THEY WILL LIKELY CHEW IT, CAUSETHAT'S THEIR NATURE 12 THAT WILLRELEASE ALL OF THE DRUG AT ONCEINTO THE SYSTEM SO THEY'REGETTING A MUCH HIGHER

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Milwaukee toddler dies of apparent opioid overdose

Boy's mother arrested

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Updated: 6:08 PM CST Jan 27, 2017

A toddler may have died from an opioid overdose, Milwaukee authorities said.
Police said a woman called 911 around 5:30 p.m. Thursday to report that her 2-year-old son was unresponsive.
James L. Vessell died at the scene -- on 41st Street between Center and Hadley streets -- despite lifesaving efforts by first responders.
Police arrested the boy's 39-year-old mother on possible neglect charges. The medical examiner's office said the case is a "probable opiate overdose."
Staff there are now sounding an alarm.
"Protect the medications in your home as if they are all lethal weapons," Sara Schreiber said. She runs the medical examiner's toxicology lab.
In the last decade, the medical examiner's office said just one child died playing with a gun. Now,a half dozen children are dead after getting their hands on prescription drugs.
"They're just as lethal. They're just as dangerous. It's just as tragic," Schreiber said.
The medical examiner's toxicology lab tests patient fluids to identify drugs and quantities taken. Schreiber said even a single pill can be deadly to a child.
"When a child consumes a drug, they will likely chew it, cause that's their nature. That will release all of the drug at once into the system, so they're getting a much higher concentration of the drug exposed to them in a much shorter period of time," Schreiber said.
An autopsy on Friday found no evidence of trauma. The office is waiting for results of toxicology tests to determine cause of death. That could take weeks.

MILWAUKEE —

A toddler may have died from an opioid overdose, Milwaukee authorities said.

Police said a woman called 911 around 5:30 p.m. Thursday to report that her 2-year-old son was unresponsive.

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James L. Vessell died at the scene -- on 41st Street between Center and Hadley streets -- despite lifesaving efforts by first responders.

Police arrested the boy's 39-year-old mother on possible neglect charges. The medical examiner's office said the case is a "probable opiate overdose."

Staff there are now sounding an alarm.

"Protect the medications in your home as if they are all lethal weapons," Sara Schreiber said. She runs the medical examiner's toxicology lab.

In the last decade, the medical examiner's office said just one child died playing with a gun. Now,a half dozen children are dead after getting their hands on prescription drugs.

"They're just as lethal. They're just as dangerous. It's just as tragic," Schreiber said.

The medical examiner's toxicology lab tests patient fluids to identify drugs and quantities taken. Schreiber said even a single pill can be deadly to a child.

"When a child consumes a drug, they will likely chew it, cause that's their nature. That will release all of the drug at once into the system, so they're getting a much higher concentration of the drug exposed to them in a much shorter period of time," Schreiber said.

An autopsy on Friday found no evidence of trauma. The office is waiting for results of toxicology tests to determine cause of death. That could take weeks.